Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Local artist to premiere tutorial TV series

Nov 15, 2017 | 4:00 PM

After cultivating a large following on YouTube, Prince Albert artist Wilna Furstenberg is making the jump to television.

Furstenberg was born and studied fine art in South Africa before moving to Prince Albert with her family 12 years ago. As a parent, Furstenberg said she was left with little time for painting, so she transitioned into scrapbooking and photography as a creative outlet. After winning several awards for her scrapbooking, she said she began getting offers to lead workshops and started a well-received blog.

As video content became more popular online, Furstenberg said she knew she would have to transition in order to reach as wide an audience as possible. She said videos not only help her connect with her audience, but also help her explain artistic techniques in a way that’s easy to understand.

“It’s so much easier just to show rather than to write it,” she said. “Video tutorials were the way to go to explain art techniques.”

More than 14,000 people subscribe to Furstenberg’s YouTube channel and some of her videos have been viewed thousands of times, but she said she would be just as happy teaching one-on-one.

“If I do a workshop, if only one person shows up I’m happy,” she said with a laugh. “Fourteen-thousand subscribers to my YouTube channel is like a miracle to me every day.”

Furstenberg said she was recently approached by a producer from Shaw to discuss the possibility of bringing her content to a television audience. Furstenberg said the first season will be produced using the videos she has already published, with re-recorded voice-overs designed to explain all of her processes step-by-step.

The show is an exciting new step, but Furstenberg said she’s most excited just to share the joy of artistic creation with as many people as possible.

“I want them just to get creative,” she said. “It truly is therapy for your heart.”

Furstenberg’s series iHeart Studio will premier Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. on Shaw TV community channels.

 

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews